Mike Shatzkin
on Jun 21st, 2009
@ 9:52 am: 

I like the thinking here, but I will pick a couple of nits.

1. Going to a licensing model does not necessarily require that an advance be paid on “royalties.” In fact, more and more publishers are trying to do “no advance” deals with authors so I think we’ll also see more “no advance” deals with rights. So whatever the problems with the rights paradigm in the retailer space, the requirement for an advance doesn’t have to be the thing which knocks it out.

2. The problem with your “net pricing” idea, I think, is that it doesn’t account for the fact that, in the digital download world, eventually most publishers WILL sell direct to end users even if they didn’t in the past. And they will sell at some price, which will be, de facto, the publisher’s retail price. This is already happening, of course, and Amazon has apparently raised the point with some publishers that their “discount” is meant to be off the publisher’s price, and if the publisher is selling for less on their web site, their discount should be based on the lower price.

That’s why I have advocated cutting the DISCOUNTS to intermediaries and have the publisher continue to sell at “full retail” (except for special promotional offers, bundles, etc) Seems like that would give us a cleaner playing field, if not a more level one.

This is all still in the stage of getting more complicated, not simpler.

[Reply]

Mike Shatzkin
on Jun 4th, 2009
@ 10:00 am: 

Evan, this is a great post and a great explanation of how the tech works. In that way, at least, better than mine today on the same subject. I am going to write a comment on my blog telling people they should look at this post.

[Reply]

jc
on Jun 4th, 2009
@ 12:47 pm: 

Great post. I think this will be a fantastic move in the right direction. In fact, I may reign in my Kindle book purchase until I get to evaluate the Google solution. As much as I like the Kindle and the reading and buying experience it offers me, the way it tethers me to one device (Amazon’s) and one retailer (Amazon) unsettles me. Google’s platform will undoubtedly be more open than that.

[Reply]

Evan Reply:
June 4th, 2009 at 1:09 pm

While I understand your sentiment – I am not sure that sitting and not buying ebooks for a device you have made an investment is the way to go. There is a long path ahead for Google Editions and by the time you are ready to upgrade your Kindle, this world will have changed 20 more times… so keep buying and reading and let the market come to you.

[Reply]

Roger Sperberg
on Jun 5th, 2009
@ 8:09 am: 

I’m just wondering … What device would not have a browser based on webkit or gecko? (Or to which a port could not be made?)

So, disregarding cellphones with screens smaller than the iPhone (and possibly too-limited OSes), I’d expect Google Gears and Google Editions to run on any handheld device used for reading, even those like Cybook, Cool-er and Be Book, which lack not only 3G but also WiFi and Bluetooth.

The Kindle OS is Linux underneath and readily hacked, so people will definitely be reading Google Editions on a Kindle, even if non-officially.

The instantaneity of access when interest in a book is roused does indeed generate warm thoughts about the goodness of e-books, Kindle and Amazon. We always speak of Apple’s success in its interface and how it didn’t stop until it made it easy to buy, listen to and navigate your collection of music. Amazon’s device-to-store interface is not in the same class, but Kindle’s success rests chiefly in how minimal the effort is that one must make to buy a book. (Including, of course, the effort to overcome paying uncomfortably high prices; also tackled successfully by Apple.)

[Reply]

Google Enters the Ebook Market | Dear Author: Romance Novel Reviews, Industry News, and Commentary
on Jun 7th, 2009
@ 3:00 am: 

[...] or the life of the computer I used to authenticate the ebook reading software). Google stretches the concept of ownership of ebooks even thinner with its upcoming Google [...]

Cloud Publishing: O que o Google Faria se Fosse uma Editora? | PONTOLIT
on Jun 9th, 2009
@ 4:40 pm: 

[...] este ano, no mercado de venda de livros digitais. Com o lançamento do Google Editions (este é o nome previsto da iniciativa), é bem provável que tenhamos que repensar tanto o conceito de ebooks quanto o de [...]

Karen Carter
on Jun 21st, 2009
@ 8:16 pm: 

Evan, I learned a great deal from this post and link to it in a lengthy article on e-books. I’d appreciate it if (in your spare time, of course) you’d read E-Books: Where Literature and Technology Meet on The Know Something Project (http://www.knowsomethingproject.com) and let me know what you think of it. Thanks so much!

Karen Carter
Denver CO

[Reply]

Carmen
on Oct 23rd, 2009
@ 6:20 pm: 

Es ist eine Sache, ein Buch über einen Computer oder Laptop zu lesen, aber eine ganz andere Erfahrung Bücher zu lesen auf einem Kindle. Der logische nächste Schritt wird die Entwicklung der e-ink/e-book Geräte, die Google Gears und das Google-Content-Editionen. Ich würde mich nicht wundern, wenn Mitteilungen nicht zum Vorschein gekommen …

[Reply]

Bonjour, je m’appelle… « teXtes
on Feb 12th, 2010
@ 11:22 pm: 

[...] Il est prévu que les sites de leurs membres vont travailler en partenariat avec Google, dans le cadre du programme Google Editions, ce qui leur permettra de vendre des livres numériques “on the cloud“. [...]